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Media analyst Thomas Baekdal criticises Google\u2019s new AI Mode in Chrome for bypassing established web security headers, raising concerns about control, transparency, and the future of web security amid rising AI integration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Google\u2019s new AI Mode in Chrome has drawn criticism after media analyst Thomas Baekdal argued that it appears to revive a long-settled web fight: whether one site can place another inside its own interface without permission. The difference this time, he says, is that publishers no longer seem able to stop it. In a LinkedIn post on April 18, Baekdal said the feature lets Chrome open publishers\u2019 pages inside Google\u2019s AI environment rather than in a separate tab, creating a modern version of framing that many website owners thought the industry had moved beyond.<\/p>\n
Baekdal\u2019s concern centres on the fact that many sites use long-established anti-embedding protections, including X-Frame-Options and the Content Security Policy frame-ancestors directive, precisely to prevent their pages being loaded inside third-party frames. Chrome\u2019s own developer documentation describes those headers as standard defences against clickjacking and unauthorised embedding. Yet, according to Baekdal, Google\u2019s AI Mode in Chrome appears to ignore those controls when it displays live publisher pages side by side with the AI interface.<\/p>\n
That creates an awkward contrast with Google\u2019s own history. For years, the company has blocked others from embedding its properties, while Chrome and the wider browser ecosystem have treated those security headers as enforceable by design. Baekdal argues that the new behaviour effectively allows Google to do to other sites what it has spent decades preventing others from doing to Google. He says the contradiction is especially striking because the company is using its own browser to override safeguards that are meant to be universal.<\/p>\n
The broader worry among critics is not only technical but commercial. A framed or embedded page inside Google\u2019s AI interface still displays the publisher\u2019s content, but it does so within Google\u2019s own product layer, preserving Google\u2019s control over the experience. That raises questions about visibility, interaction tracking and whether publishers receive the same value they would get from a normal visit. It also revives earlier disputes over browser power, control of the user experience and whether a dominant platform can set the rules for how web content is presented.<\/p>\n
The timing is sensitive for publishers already under pressure from AI search products. Research cited by PPC Land has found that AI Overviews can sharply reduce organic clicks, while industry groups have estimated steep traffic and revenue losses for publishers as AI summaries become more common. Google has said its AI tools are intended to help users explore the web more effectively, and chief executive Sundar Pichai has insisted the company remains committed to sending people out to sources. But Baekdal\u2019s critique suggests the real issue may now be less about whether Google links to the web, and more about whether it increasingly places the web inside its own walls.<\/p>\n
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